Second Wind: Running Form 7: Posture

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

I apologize for the delay in posts, I've been out of town for about 10 days

and made that time a "technology free" zone!

I'm excited to be back, to hear how everyone's running has been the

last week, and to share with you the 7th (and final) segment on our

Running Form series. This 7th part of the series covers complete/overall

running posture and is taken from my book

Running Posture

Keep your body in a straight line. Think of a rod

going straight through your body, from the center of

the top of your head down through your ankle.

With that rod in place, every joint has to stay in line and your

back must remain perfectly straight.

At the same time, lean your body ever-so-slightly forward.

Now, in remembering that your body has to be

straight (you can’t bend that rod), you know you

can’t lean forward at the waist.

Instead, you create your forward cant from the

ankles.

By creating a lean forward (from the ankles),

you enlist gravity to assist you in your run. Instead of

running being work, it becomes controlled falling.

You aren’t pushing off into each stride, in fact, if you

don’t do anything but stand still, with your body

leaning forward at the ankles, you will fall flat on

your face. To keep yourself from falling, you simply

place one foot out to catch yourself – 'falling' into

your next stride with half the effort.

Remember that everything (head, shoulders, chest, hips, knees,

toes) points in the direction you are moving - forward!

Knees are bent (before you can even think in your head "but my knees are bent"

let me just go ahead and assure you they are not. Bend them more.).

Your knees must be kept bent your entire stride, up and down, lift and landing.

In order to do this, bend your knees, then bend them a little more, then bend them

until you feel mildly ridiculous and at that point you're probably about half way there ;)

Second Wind